Some TikTok users in Russia gained access to new content – ​​Kommersant

At the end of 2023, some TikTok users in Russia were able to download and view new content without using restriction bypass tools, I was convinced Forbes. In addition, some Russian businesses have been able to launch targeted advertising on the site since the end of last year, the publication reports, citing representatives of several agencies working with bloggers.

Rustem Bogdanov, founder of the production center “PC”, which promoted bloggers and brands on TikTok in the Russian Federation, claims that there were two “waves” of lifting restrictions for Russian users on the platform. According to him, some Russians who updated TikTok gained access to new content without a VPN in November 2023. He noted that this month Russia appeared in the traffic structure of his account. The second “wave” occurred in January of this year, when, according to Mr. Bogdanov’s observations, more users from Russia gained access to new videos. He told the publication that in January the Russian Federation accounted for 12% of his audience.

The founder of the advertising agency PurpleDoor, Alexey Pak, also reported to Forbes that two or three months ago new content began appearing in the TikTok feed of users from Russia, including foreign ones. This opportunity disappeared the day after it appeared, Mr. Park said.

Marketer and creator of the SMM Dnative blog Alexey Tkachuk told Forbes that even before November, Russian users periodically reported that they were discovering new content. At the same time, some bloggers surveyed by the publication report that new videos on TikTok are still not available to them. In particular, the founder of the marketing agency Hype Agency, Grigory Zorin, told Forbes about this.

A TikTok representative told the publication that there have been no changes to the service in Russia since March 2022. A source close to TikTok said that the service did not record cases of new content and the ability to launch targeted advertising for users from the Russian Federation.

TikTok has restricted the uploading of new content and the ability to broadcast live for Russian users after it introduced criminal liability for spreading fake news about the Russian army. By data Mediascope, as of October 2023, TikTok was in third place among applications in Russia in terms of audience volume (67.6 million people). The service is ahead only of VKontakte (89.2 million) and Telegram (82.3 million).